Low lethality impact munitions are available in a number of configurations and calibers. These munitions may be designed for use against multiple subjects (area effect), or a single subject (point control). Area effect munitions are comprised of loaded munition platforms which contain multiple sub-munitions that may be discharged into a group of two or more subjects (i.e., human targets). Point control munitions are normally loaded with a single sub-munition. These latter munitions are typically designed to be more accurate and allow for more precise single target acquisition and deployment.
The design of low lethality impact sub-munitions ranges from basic wooden batons and rubber balls to advanced drag and spin stabilized designs. Accuracy of the sub-munitions is dependent on the munitions' caliber and intended use. Advanced large caliber point control type munitions rely on spin stabilization for increased accuracy. These munitions are designed to interface with internal rifling features in the large caliber launcher barrels which cause the sub-munitions to spin up when discharged. While this type of stabilization yields a round with exceptional accuracy and broader range performance, these large caliber launchers are not as common as smooth bore launchers which do not have features to induce spinning of the sub-munitions.
Smooth bore low lethality impact munitions can be broken into two different types, stabilized and non-stabilized. Non-stabilized munitions do not utilize any design features to aid in their accuracy or performance, and are mainly used in area effect deployments. Stabilized smooth bore munitions typically are designed to include either fin or drag stabilization. Fin stabilized sub-munitions are designed with fin features that induce a spin and/or are intended to stabilize their flight path. Drag stabilized munitions are designed with features that will trail behind the sub-munition main body during flight to produce a drag effect which in turn stabilizes the sub-munitions.
A problem with current drag stabilized munitions is that the feature(s) that are intended to trail the sub-munition main body during flight do not consistently deploy and trail as intended. The trailing feature often remains bunched up at the sub-munition main body resulting in non-uniform deployment of the trailing feature or no deployment at all. This bunching/non-deployment problem is present to varying degrees in virtually all drag stabilized sub-munitions regardless of construction or trailing feature configuration, and can lead to greater observed variability and performance of the sub-munitions.